German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann plays a Stradivarius dating from 1711 during a concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia in November 2012.

European Pressphoto Agency

A standoff over an 18th-century violin showed little sign of resolution this week, as German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann prepares to perform in New York without the prized Stradivarius he has played for more than a decade.

Mr. Zimmermann had leased the violin from a now-defunct German bank, WestLB AG, through a long-term contract that expired over the weekend. Read More »

It’s no surprise that Cat Stevens’ first U.S. shows in almost 40 years would be a tough ticket – and now, those in the tri-state area will have even a tougher time if they want to see the songwriting legend.

Stevens posted a statement on his website today, saying that he’s canceling his planned New York City show at the Beacon Theatre on Dec. 7 because of the “extortionist” prices the re-sellers are asking.

“I have been a longtime supporter of paperless tickets to my shows worldwide and avoiding scalpers,” he wrote. “Unfortunately NY has a state law that requires all tickets sold for shows in NYC to be paper, enabling them to be bought and sold at inflated prices. I’m sorry about not being able to now play in NYC but hope to find an opportunity that aligns with my support of this issue in the near future, God willing. Looks like the Peace Train is going to arrive at New York a little bit later than expected.” Read More »

Billy Joel will soon join the Knicks, the Rangers and the New York Liberty as Madison Square Garden’s fourth franchise. At a news conference Tuesday, the 64-year-old singer said that he will play the venue once a month, starting Jan. 27, as long as fans buy tickets.

“Playing Madison Square Garden is an experience that never gets old,” the Long Island native said to a crowd that included Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “Since my first show in 1978, I’ve always looked forward to the energy of the crowd.”

Such artist residencies are popular in Las Vegas, where Celine Dion and Elton John have set up shop. Later this month, Britney Spears will be joining them. Read More »

The resale of tickets to a Sandy benefit concert at prices hundreds or thousands of dollars above face value has prompted an effort to crack down on websites listing the tickets.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer sent a letter Thursday to the websites StubHub, TicketExchange, TicketsNow and TicketLiquidator seeking to prohibit the sales of tickets for the “121212″ relief concert or to have the companies arrange for the difference between the original ticket price and the resale value to go to relief efforts. Read More »

Entertainer Jay-Z performs on stage at the newly built Barclays Center.

Jay-Z has less than a 1% stake in the Brooklyn Nets, but he claimed ownership of the Barclays Center on its opening night Friday in New York.

“Welcome to my house!” he shouted near the beginning of his two-hour set, wearing a black and white Nets jersey emblazoned with the number 4 and his last name, Carter. He stalked a narrow strip of stage, which banked upward behind him to where members of his band occupied slots in the surface. The smooth surfaces formed a sort of open mouth behind the rapper and a glossy screen for cascading lights and video.

Before he took the stage, snapshots of Brooklyn slid across the backdrop, bridging moments in history that included the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge (1883) and the opening of Ebbets Field (1913). Read More »

Now the event, which set itself apart with curated lineups and resort settings, is arriving at a decidedly mainstream location: Pier 36, a new indoor venue on the East River between the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges.

Once again, accommodations were a problem last year, said Barry Hogan, who founded the festival in the U.K. in 1999. Read More »

When you’re in the seat-filling business, how do you replace a marquee attraction like New York Knicks?

For Madison Square Garden Co., owner of both the basketball team and the company’s namesake arena in Manhattan, the search for substitutes is on amid a labor dispute that has already scuttled the first month of the National Basketball Association season.

In a conference call with investors Friday after the company reported strong first-quarter earnings, MSG Chief Executive Hank Ratner acknowledged the difficulties in replacing basketball games. “In terms of our contingency plans, we are exploring opportunities to bring other live events to the Garden to replace any canceled home games,” he said. “While the limited lead time makes this endeavor challenging, we have had some initial success, including two additional concerts this month.”

The stakes are high, and there’s little reason to think the process will prove easy. Read More »

James Murphy, right, and LCD Soundsystem performing in Barcelona last year. The band is embarking on a final week of concerts in New York before calling it quits.

Some bands long past their prime refuse call it quits — witness the list of nostalgia acts crisscrossing the country each summer. Few have the foresight or fortitude of James Murphy, who is set to walk off the stage at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night and shut down a band at its creative peak.

Murphy, the frontman and force behind LCD Soundsystem, has set up a virtual cottage industry in New York City since releasing the 2002 single “Losing My Edge,” a song that meshed tropes from rock and dance music and inspired a wave of like-minded local bands. He now runs a studio in the West Village, works as a producer for other artists, releases records on a label he co-founded — all while fronting LCD Soundsystem, until next Sunday morning at least, through three albums and exhaustive world tours.

That legacy may still grow in the future, but Murphy has called time on the band as a live entity following the acclaim heaped on its 2010 album “This Is Happening.” He declined several requests for interviews and has kept a low profile since setting an end date for his band.

The end comes as other prominent groups from the same musical era are either struggling to adjust to the new decade or, like Murphy’s band, bowing out altogether. Recent albums by the Strokes and Interpol, dominant bands on New York’s early 2000s scene, received lukewarm receptions from critics, while the White Stripes declared they were splitting up just a few days before Murphy’s announcement.

Murphy is very much walking away from an act able to draw fans as well as critical accolades. The scramble to attend LCD Soundsystem’s final show at the Garden, which sold out in less than a day, caused consternation for the singer as scalpers snapped up a disheartening amount of tickets. Read More »

T Model Ford performed in the lobby at All Tomorrow’s Parties 2010, held at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello, N.Y. The three-day festival will move to Asbury Park, N.J., this year in a bid to give fans an easier commute.

Rain, mud, poor sound systems and less than appealing amenities make the outdoor festival circuit an unappetizing proposition for concertgoers of a certain age, for whom long hours of live music and the ability to sleep in a bed need not be incompatible.

In 1999, U.K. concert promoter Barry Hogan decided to do something about it. With his wife, Deborah Kee Higgins, he formed All Tomorrow’s Parties, a boutique festival set in various British holiday resorts.

The concert was designed to be nearly the opposite of the typical multi-day music festival. For fans, there would be real accommodations that didn’t require sleeping bags or tent poles. Artists would perform at indoor venues unaffected by the elements. The sound system would be decent. Unlike most big festivals, no corporate sponsorship is allowed.

In 2008, after nearly a decade in the U.K., All Tomorrow’s Parties expanded across the Atlantic to Kutsher’s Country Club, a once-popular destination in New York’s Borscht Belt. But after three years, the festival faced a limiting factor: the number of rooms at the faded resort.

“The old venue did not work for the event,” Higgins explained in an interview. “As soon as the accommodation sold out, it became very difficult to sell any remaining tickets.” The two-hour drive between New York City and Monticello, N.Y., made it difficult to attract attendees without a place to sleep.

The solution was to move the three-day festival to within comfortable commuting distance of the city. In other words: New Jersey. Read More »

The annual Watermill Summer Concert on Saturday will see an unusual pairing onstage: Rufus Wainwright with special guest Kylie Minogue.

“She really has pipes, which is rare in the pop world,” said Wainwright of the Australian diva. “In Europe, she’s a superstar.”

Even heads of state think so: The French awarded Minogue the Chevalier de L’ordre des Arts et Lettres, and Queen Elizabeth made her an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

On these shores, she may be best known for her catchy pop tune “Can’t Get you Out of My Head,” but she will have a chance to show Americans her more artistic side at the Watermill Center with Wainwright. As Minogue said via e-mail: “I’m a great admirer of his work and was thrilled when he came to see my concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC last year.” Read More »